This Kiss (This Kiss)
by ihearttvsnark
Summary: Caroline just wants everything to be perfect.


His declaration makes her blush, her cheeks heating with color, the happy smile never leaving her face. She hadn't realizes how much she'd wanted, _needed_, to hear the confirmation from him. Now that she has, she's confident she could float to the moon and back and it still wouldn't be express the absolute joy that was radiating through every part of her.

She's so lost in her happy bubble that it takes her a second to realize that he has moved closer, that he's still moving closer, his eyes dropping to her lips before meeting her gaze. She leans closer, her heart races with anticipation as she sees his eyes flutter closed, his lips a breath away from hers and that's when her brain comes crashing back to Earth.

The breeze she leaves in the wake of her hasty escape confuses him so much that he stumbles, something she's rarely seen him do. He catches himself easily, turns his head and furrows his brow when he sees her standing at the opposite end of the long porch. "Caroline?"

"You can't kiss me!" Her voice is more high-pitched than usual and she might have rolled her eyes at the panic in her tone if this situation wasn't one hundred percent serious.

Stefan looks more confused than ever as he takes a hesitant step closer to her and she instinctively takes a step back, bumping into the railing behind her hard enough to hurt like hell if she'd still been human. "You can't kiss me," she repeats, her voice slightly calmer this time.

He opens his mouth and then closes it, staring at her with a familiar look on his face. It's the look he gives her when he thinks she's being crazy, but he's still trying to be patient with her because she's his best friend and he _gets_ her. Except there's something different about the look now and Caroline can't quite place it until he opens his mouth once more.

"I thought this was what you wanted."

_Hurt_, that's what's different about the way he's looking at her. Caroline doesn't hesitate this time, she moves toward him almost as fast as she'd spun away and places her hands on his shoulders.

"It is. You are," Caroline stresses. She's waited a long time for this, longer than she was willing to admit to herself in the dark corners of her mind that no one was supposed to know existed. Hearing Stefan declare that he wanted her too was practically too good to be true.

"Then why can't I kiss you?" He reaches out and brushes a stray piece of hair from her forehead. It's something he's done before, more times than she can even remember, but this time, it's so much more than a simple touch and she nearly feels her resolve slipping away.

But she pushes the urge down because she's Caroline Forbes and she might as well have written the book on self-control. Caroline ignores the hum of her pulse and focuses on Stefan, who's waiting for an explanation. "It's not that you can't kiss me _ever_, you just can't kiss me now. Here." She gestures to the Salvatore porch, the site of too many summits and conversations and arguments. "It's not special enough."

Maybe it was silly. They were vampires. They'd been to hell and back and fought monsters and everything else that went bump in the night so the where and how of their first kiss really shouldn't be that big of a deal. But it was because this was Stefan and she was Caroline and it _mattered_ to her.

"Okay," Stefan agrees and sends a smile in her direction that warms her heart all over again, "No kiss." He tilts his head in the direction of the house. "Are you still going to come inside or should I avert my gaze until I get written permission from the sheriff?"

"Shut up!" Caroline's laughing as she punches him in the arm with all of her vampire strength. He lets out an exaggerated 'Ow!' even though they both know he barely felt it.

They're both smiling when he wraps his arm around her and she rests her head against his shoulder as they make their way back into the house.

* * *

As far as first dates go, theirs belonged in some kind of book under the label 'picture perfect'. Caroline doesn't tell him that she changed her clothes exactly twenty times while Bonnie pretended she wasn't laughing at her from the other side of the dorm room. All that mattered was the way Stefan looked at her when she opened the door and handed her a bouquet of flowers. He'd dressed up too and she'd had the urge to float to the moon again when he'd given her his arm and whispered against her ear how beautiful she looked.

There was a part of her, that deep, dark corner of her mind part, that had worried things would be weird between them. How could they not be after they'd admitted friendship wasn't enough anymore? There had to be some awkward silences or strange feelings coming their way now that they were officially on the path to being more than friends.

But they weren't even out of the dorm building when Caroline decided there was nothing to worry about. Stefan asked about classes and she instantly launched into a recap of her day, the highlights, the lowlights and the moment she'd slipped and accidentally had to compel one of her professors to ignore the bag of blood that had tumbled out of her purse when she'd been searching for her favorite pen.

Stefan just shook his head, the smile never leaving his face as she talked. When she was done, he told her about seeing Matt and Jeremy that afternoon at the Grill and Damon and Enzo playing pool and drinking at all hours until Elena stopped by and Damon had immediately shown Enzo the door and left Stefan with a few hours of quiet so he could reread one of his favorite Russian novels.

Despite all the time they spent traveling back and forth between Mystic Falls and Whitmore College, Stefan had still managed to find an Italian restaurant they'd never eaten at before. Conversation flowed just as easily during dinner and Caroline toasted Stefan with the wine he'd compelled the server to bring them after he'd asked for Caroline's ID. Stefan told her that she was a bad influence and her heart had danced around her chest each and every time he'd looked at her with that smile on his face.

Afterward, they'd gotten ice cream and walked around campus, enjoying the spring night. They never ran out of things to say to one another and each time he laughed at something she said, butterflies flittered in her stomach and the smile on her face just kept getting bigger. The ice cream is long gone by the time they get back to the dorm entrance and her hand is in his as he leads her up the steps to the door.

"Thank you for tonight," Stefan tells her as he steps closer into her personal space. The formality of his tone makes her laugh and she punches him in the arm. He just raises an eyebrow and she's tempted to hit him again, but the thought flies out of her head when he leans in and this time she doesn't pull away. Her eyes close, she tilts her head and feels the warmth of his mouth as it slowly descends toward hers.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?"

Caroline nearly screams at the sound of the familiar, overly smug voice. "Damon," she hisses, her eyes flying open and turning to slits when she spots him standing just over Stefan's shoulder, smirking at them.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I've been calling you for an hour," Damon tells Stefan, his expression turning serious. "We might have a new lead. It's time to do the hero thing and investigate."

Stefan sends Caroline an apologetic look, his hand squeezing hers gently as he shifts to face his brother. "And Enzo wasn't around to help you investigate?"

"He had something else to do and you know how much I enjoy our wonder brother mystery solving team bonding time. Now kiss Barbie goodnight and let's get moving." He gestures impatiently and Caroline gleefully imagines snapping his neck.

"I'll meet you at the car," Stefan tells him, his thumb absently stroking hers as he waits for his brother to take the hint. Damon gives them one last exaggerated eye roll and then walks to his car, which Caroline notes is unfortunately, only a few feet away.

"Don't," she warns when Stefan opens his mouth. "I know you're going to apologize and say it's Damon being Damon, but it doesn't matter. Tonight was amazing and perfect and I had the best time and I'm not going to let him ruin that for either of us." Her tone leaves no room for argument and Caroline squeezes Stefan's hand, flashes her best cheerleader smile. "Now you need to go and let me know what you guys find."

"I will," Stefan promises. It's his turn to roll his eyes when Damon leans on the horn. Stefan's eyes meet hers and he lifts their joined hands to his lips. She's pretty sure all the air goes right out of her lungs when his mouth makes contact with her skin and lingers there, causing her blood to hum. "Goodnight, Caroline."

She simply stares at him and the spell is broken a few seconds later when her vampire hearing picks up Damon's voice muttering about her speechlessness. Caroline doesn't care. "Goodnight, Stefan." She sends one last glare in Damon's general direction and then heads inside. She makes it all the way to the stairs before the huge smile breaks out across her face and she practically skips the rest of the way to her room.

Bonnie is sitting on her bed, surrounded by books and she looks up and grins the second Caroline closes the door at her back. "It looks like someone had a fun night."

"The best," Caroline replies. She doesn't bother removing her jacket or shoes, she just sprawls out across the foot of Bonnie's bed and tells her friend everything. She's retelling a story that made Stefan laugh when Bonnie gives her a 'hurry up' gesture that's annoyingly similar to Damon's and Caroline frowns. "What?"

"Caroline, you just spent ten minutes talking about the way Stefan eats ice cream." She shakes her head at her friend's confused look. "It's so cute that you're happy, but I want to hear about the good stuff. Tell me about the kiss," she urges.

Her face flushes because Caroline doesn't remember going into that much detail, but it's completely possible because Stefan is cuter than ever when he's eating an ice cream cone. Bonnie coughs pointedly and Caroline realizes she's drifting again. "Sorry. There was no kiss." She quickly explains Damon's rude interruption.

Bonnie raises an eyebrow, but doesn't ask about what Damon needed Stefan for because she doubts Caroline wants to talk about that. "Why couldn't you kiss him in front of Damon?"

Caroline shoots her a look. "Seriously? _Seriously_?" she repeats. Bonnie opens her mouth, but Caroline keeps talking. "Stefan and I are _not_ going to have our first kiss in front of Damon! He'd probably run a commentary and it would ruin everything. There's nothing perfect about Damon being there."

"Okay," Bonnie says carefully. "But why does it need to be perfect? I know how much you like Stefan. Why wait?"

"Because it's Stefan," Caroline replies. She sits up, her expression turning serious. "Stefan is my best friend. What's more romantic than falling for your best friend who has been there for you more than anyone else _ever_? It's the kind of thing people write stories about and songs and poems and it's a lot to live up to," she adds quietly. There was that dark part of her mind rearing its annoying head again.

"I just want it to be amazing and special because it's Stefan," she says again, her voice quieter as the smile returns to her face at the thought. "When he kisses me, it's something I'm never going to forget and I want it to be perfect because _it's_ Stefan and…" Caroline's voice trails off when Bonnie reaches out and places her hand over hers.

Bonnie smiles. "Stop thinking so hard and putting so much pressure on this," she says. "You and Stefan are the real deal so it's going to be perfect, no matter what the circumstances."

Caroline grins and then Bonnie shrieks when her friend tackles her, forgetting her vampire power for a moment when she hugs her a little too tight. Caroline relaxes her grip, but she doesn't let go and they both laugh.

* * *

Stefan's hand is on her lower back as they walk, or in her case, limp into the Salvatore living room. Elena had just left to bring Jeremy back to Tyler's since his car had gotten wrecked again and Damon and Enzo were compelling the witnesses to forget what they'd seen.

"Just another typical night in Mystic Falls," Stefan comments dryly, reading her thoughts as he helps her to the couch. He moves to the table to pour them each a glass of whiskey while Caroline pulls off her broken shoe and examines the heel that's hanging by a thread.

"I really liked these." She kicks the other one off and curls her legs underneath her as she digs her phone out of her pocket and checks her texts. "Bonnie says Matt's awake and he's got a killer headache."

"At least Damon didn't break his neck this time." Stefan hands her a glass and sits beside her, angling his body sideways so he's facing her. "Sorry about dinner," he says before taking a long drink.

Caroline waves him off with her free hand while lifting her glass to her lips and gulping down half the drink. It had been that kind of night. "We can get dinner another night when there are less ghost hunters trying to kill us." She frowns. "Spirit seekers?" She can't remember the exact word the woman had used, just the dart she'd jammed into her neck.

As if reading her mind once more, Stefan reaches out and touches the spot on her skin. It has already healed, but she knows there's a spec of dried blood there and probably dirt from when she'd hit the ground since it was all over her clothes. "I need to shower. And burn these." She gestures to her clothes and flashes Stefan a tired smile.

"How bad would it be if I compelled my professor to let me have the rest of the week off?" she asks. Caroline is already imagining soaking in a bubble bath for half the day and then treating herself to a massage. Or maybe she'd just spent the whole day curled up in bed. They all sound like good options.

Stefan smiles into his glass. "Aren't you afraid you're going to do permanent damage to their brains with all of this mind control?"

"Shut up!" She laughs and summons enough strength to slap his arm, causing some of the liquor to spill out of his glass and that makes her laugh even harder. Stefan just shakes his head and finishes his drink. She finishes hers as well and leans over to set the empty glass on the coffee table. "You'd do the same thing if you were me."

"I'd do it _for_ you if you needed me too," Stefan replies. He sets his glass down as well and shifts back, placing his elbow on the top of the couch and resting his head against his hand. "Do you want me to drive you back to the dorm or should I order a pizza?"

"Pizza," Caroline replies. She's exhausted, but she doesn't want to go yet and she can't help the little smile that crosses her face as she imagines Stefan compelling her professors for her. She doesn't doubt that he would, she doesn't doubt that he would do anything for her. He was Stefan and she was Caroline and suddenly Bonnie's words from the other night made more sense than ever. "Kiss me."

_That_ catches him by surprise and he looks at her for a moment before he says anything. "I thought you wanted to wait."

Caroline shakes her head. "No, that was dumb. This is us." She gestures between the two of them. This was their thing, this had been their thing for as long as she could remember and she knew it was never going to change. It didn't matter whether it was a normal day or one filled with near death experiences like this one. They always ended up back here, sharing a drink and just relaxing because this was them and nothing was more perfect.

She doesn't have to say anything else though because Stefan knows her and he gets her and he doesn't question her. Instead, he shifts closer and reaches out, carefully brushing her hair back from her face. His eyes meet hers and that fluttering is back in her stomach, that urge to float away is nearly overwhelming and her blood starts humming as soon as he leans in toward her. She lets her eyes slip shut and she feels his warm breath teasing her lips and then his lips are on hers and it's even better than she imagined.

His mouth moves slowly over hers at first, almost teasing and she instantly wants more. Caroline shifts closer, sliding one of her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair as he increases the pressure of his lips against hers. He lets one hand rest on the small of her back and she opens her mouth beneath his, savoring the moment when he deepens the kiss. Her free hand slides across his chest, resting against his heartbeat as she basks in the feel of him and everything and everyone else slips right out of her head.

This was exactly what she'd been waiting for all along.


End file.
